Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-11-11
The SALOON AS A LEECH.
1t Is the Training. School OF Vice. the
kindergarten of Crime.
LFrom thu Toledo Blad. !

BODY Is suffering from engagement, ana
leech is applied, the disgusting little ami
NAL fastens himself firmly to the flesh and
sucks until he is full Of blood. There is
q striking similarity between the leech and
the saloon. Both are unexcelled blood
suckers. The one depletes the circulation
in the body, the other the monetary circu-
lation. The only particular difference is,
that the leech drops off when he is filled
with blood, but the saloon does not. Let
it get it's clutches upon q man, and it never
lets go its hold until the man is dead or is
beggared.
AS the leech depletes the circulation of
the patient, SO does the saloon deplete the
amount Of money in circulation in COM
city or town or hamlet in which it is es-
tablished, but it is a business curse. 1t de-
creases the total amount Of money in Cir
culation, reduces the business done by
every establishment engaged in legitimate
trade, and draws the money from that To-
cality, making the total amount in circula-
ton therein much less. Look at it q mo-
ment. What part of the money which is
paid in over the bar goes out again into
circulation in the town? just enough to
support the saioonist and his family. The
remainder, less the saloonist's net profit,
goes to the distillers and brewers. Be-
come which goes for his support, not
dollar of it goes into general circulation in
the town. to build up trade, to employ
labor, or in any other way to add to the
wealth and prosperity of the community.
The money is paid over the bar and no
equivalent is rendered The rum ruins
health, destroys talent, fosters idleness
and vice, and there is no tangible good
resulting from it. The nan who spends
the money would be better off if he got alb
solutely nothing in return for his cash,
than the internal swill which he pours
down his throat to imbruts him. Suppose
that the whole of this money were spent in
the erection of new homes each year. The
major part of it would still be circulating
from hand to hand; for it would be paid
out for brick and store, for lumber, for
carpenters, masons, pasterers, roofers,
painters, GLACIERS, paper-hangers, etc.; it
would be kept in the town, kept circulat-
ing, and at the same time the valuation of
real estate would be enhanced by thousands
of dollars worth of betterments. The
money would have gone back into the
hands OF the laboring men of the place.
Contrast this with the money when it is
paid over the counter of the saloon. It
has added nothing to he wealth, comfort
or well being of the unfortunate men who
new value to the town; it has not increased
the improvements to the city, nor has it
gone back into the local channels of trade,
beyond the sum required for the support of
those who sell the liquors. The greater
portion has gone to swell the purse of the
rum power, and the only thing it has done
for the community is to increase the
amount of poverty, woe, wretchedness and
vice.
1t is plain to any one who gives mo-
ments thought to the matter that the saloons
are veritable money-leeches. They suck
the money of the laboring men to whom
they give no equivalent, take it out of the
business of the community and send it away
to the destillers, leaving the town or city the
poorer by that amount-both in the ready
money and in the real values which that
money represents. This is not the case
with the men engaged in legitimate bust
ness. For every dollar the latter receive
they give on equivalent in goods or some
thing else as tangible. The men who have
paid this money hold in their hands prop
erty equal in value to the amount of money
which they have paid out The business
men put the money they have received into
circulation again for the employment of
more labor and the production of more
goods to take the place of those sold.
Is it not plain that the saloon is really q
potent factor in what are known as "hard
times?" leech which is never filed,
which is always sucking in money out of
the pockets of the masses, must not its
effect be finally to aid in the scarcity of
money and the arrangement of the finan-
cial balance? 1t certainly should be clear
to every one that this is the effect.
There are men who have SO little power
of thought Us to believe in a sort of help
less, childish way, that the saloon "aids
business. They suppose apparently, be-
cause money passes in the transaction, that
it must necessarily be business" There is
not the first element of real business about
1t. Trade, or commerce, presupposes the
exchange of one commodity for another.
Generally one of these is money. In eyery
legitimate transaction, both buyer and
seller have practically equivalent values in
their hands after its completion. The first
one had sum of money, the second one
had an equivalent amount Of goods. They
exchange, and the second one has the
money, the first one has the goods.
But in the case of the saloon, how is it?
The workingman pays over his money;
what has he to represent that money as he
staggers home to his miserable far.ily?
Nothing, and worse than nothing. He has
not only lost his money but he has de-
graded his manhood, injured his health,
lost his self-respect, and the respect and
confidence Of all decent men. The ex-
change is abominably one-sided. It is en-
tirely to the advantage of the saloonist.
He has the money, and the drinker has
ostnot only it but ali that makes life worth
living along with it.
There is no Cuisines" about the saloon.
1t is the establishment which fosters idle
ness and debauchery, which increases the
poverty and degradation of humanity; it is
the training school of vice, the kindergar-
ten of crime. It is astonishing that any
sane man can allow himself, even by i'm
plication, to do aught that will aid in con-
tinung its existence or in fostering its
growth. Let every honest reader ponder
the problem.
Sunday Liquor-SelIing.
movement has been inaugurated in
Buffalo for the organization of Personal
Liberty Leagues, which it is proposed to
extend throughout the State, the main OBJ
ject of which is to secure legislation to
open the saloons on Sunday afternoons,
The leaders in the movement expect to
make themselves felt as controlling force
in practical politics, and to be able 10 hold
the balance of power between the Rennhli.